If you could use the template shown at the top of this forum and link to the parts you are considering at a website you can buy from we will help you either find a stronger build for the same amount of save some money for the same performance, as the GTX280 is an older tech and runs hotter than an OC'd GTX275 that will perform the same.

If you are in college, you can get a great deal directly from MS on Vista Ultimate Upgrade (basically home premium and business combined - requires previous ownership of earlier Windows version) for $65 and MS Office Ultimate for $60 dollars. The listing does not say if the Vista is 32bit or 64bit - you would have to go through a couple more screens after listing your email address to find out - I assume it would give you the option to select whichever.

You could actually make do with the OCZ Modstream 600w PSU if not planning to SLI or OC, but unfortunately it is only $5 AR cheaper so I would not recommend the change.

The EVGA 280 video card requires a system with a minimum 550w PSU with 40a on the 12v rails.

Also I recommend not buying the GTX 280 video card - which you cannot find listed among the current products on the EVGA product pages - and even have difficulty linking to for specs - but get the GTX 275 instead - which is replacing it, performs better, has 384MB more memory, costs $30 less AR, and is a 2 time winner of the newegg customer choice award.

The first link doesnt work anymore because the month ended and newegg changed their combos unfortunately. If you are going nvidia you cannot run a dual card solution so you could even drop down to a 600 watt power supply if you can find a good deal on a decent one, but that OCZ 700 watts is pretty cheap right now so thats your best option.

4) I'm not SLIing til the 300 Series in about 6-9months so 700w is good enough power for one decent card do you disagree?

Are you still planning to get the mobo you first listed? It only has on PCIe slot so you cannot use it for SLI.. If planning to SLI later, do you plan to purchase not only a graphics card but new mobo, psu, and maybe RAM compatible to new mobo?

yes..i will pretty much buy a "Amazing PC" within a year i just need something to last me till then

my question is my father is Saying that the AMD Phenom II X4 is Unstable & needs Liquid Cooling in order to run is that True? And he also Says that AMD Phenom Quad-Core 2.3ghz is fine for me...and i want to get Phenom II X4 how do i tell convince him its stable and Alot better..? Thanks

Mine is running with the stock cooler and only the two fans that come with the antec 300. In a 24C room its running at about 33 right now and the highest i got it to go while stress testing it using prime95 is 55. The Phenom II is alot cooler than the older phenoms due to 45nm instead of 65nm processing allowing it to run faster and produce less heat.

But in reality if you want high end gaming and nVidia you need to go i7 there is no way around it with no nvidia chipsets for the new AM3 sockets.

2) unless you're only looking at Crysis or another nvidia prefering game then the dual 4850's beat the GTX 280 almost every time.

Yes, it does not surprise me that once you rule out the games that nVidia does better in the dual 4850's might beat the 280. What happens when we first rule out the games that AMD does better in?

The link I posted above was comparing 4850's in CF with the 280 and does not show what you said. Can you link to some sources showing otherwise?

Of course on major advantage of using a single card now is that he can greatly increase processing power by adding a single like card. If he maxes out now with 2 4850s and wants more, then he has to discard both and buy two new cards.